Top 10 Articles: Higher Faster

Except for my Top 10 Elite FTS articles, I haven’t done a top 10 articles post for a while, so here is another from a less well-travelled site, Higher Faster.  Higher Faster is the vehicle for the strength coach Kelly Baggett, who has a great writing style and loads of really helpful insights into training.

For my other top 10 articles, start here.

1. Creation of a bodybuilder - I find it amazing that this article doesn’t crop up more often than it does.  Kelly sets out the basics for gaining serious amounts of mass in the shortest possible amount of time.  This also appears to be knowledge that the internet seems to be crying out for.  I mean, after all, strength and fitness forums planet-wide are stuffed with people complaining how hard it is to gain muscle.  Kelly breaks it down for them without being overly prescriptive.  Training wise, he explains the parameters of volume and loading.  As regards diet, he explains what the key factors are.  So if you want to gain muscle and you’re not getting the results you want, read this article and start the scale moving.  But if you find yourself disagreeing with him and you’re not making progress, that might be the reason…
2. Shit or get off the pot series (parts one, two and three) – another great series from Kelly that really bangs home some really key points about gaining muscle.  Firstly, that you don’t have forever to gain serious amounts of muscle.  The clock is ticking and if you don’t do it before you’re forty then you are going to find it hard.  Secondly, you have to eat.  A lot.  Thirdly, you have to get out of the mindset that you can be the first person to add 30lbs of muscle without losing sight of their abs.  These three articles alone are worth more than 90% of anything else I have ever read on the internet about gaining muscle.  For gaining muscle, the only internet resources that I think add to what is written here are the odd thread on the T-Cell Alpha at T-Nation and the information on the DC site.
3. The myth of non-functional hypertrophy - this article is absolutely brilliant at kicking the living daylights out of the idea that high rep training is pointless and just pumps up the muscles without adding strength.  It’s one of the reasons I’ve stopped training exclusively in the lower rep ranges, along with the realisation that DC really, really works.  It also informed my recent prediction that strength coaches were going to start using bodybuilding techniques to add muscle to their athletes.
4. The relative strength myth - another formative article for my current thinking, this great post sets out the case for building muscle in the pursuit of relative strength.  Yes, I admit that some of the great relative strength athletes like John Gill and Jasper Benincasa were quite slight in the upper body but Kelly here builds a good case that ordinary mortals should build muscle in order to see significant progress on the strength front.
5. No glutes = no results - while Mike Robertson and Bret Contreras have been more obvious in their promotion of the glutes as a key driver for good posture and for great athleticism, Kelly is not backward in coming forward.  This great article has some interesting perspectives and details that will give you a better perspective on that all-important body-part.  Not content with just theory, Kelly also spells out some great little programmes for you to try at home.
6. Workout templates - this article is so much more than just some templates.  It is a list of key factors that can be used to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of your workouts.  It is a list of principles that Kelly has established from many years of training himself and athletes to a very high level indeed.
7. The importance of getting mentally jacked - this great article really drives home how important it is to have the right mental attitude in training.  Without that attitude, it is going to be a slow process.
8. Vertical Jump Calculator - if you are curious about what your vertical might be but don’t have a testing facility, try this calculator.  At least it will send you back to the squat rack if you’re not satisfied, which can only be a good thing.  And if you’e curious about the vertical jump and want to read more, you could do a lot worse than to read Kelly’s FAQ on the subject.
9. It ain’t rocket science - one of the best things about reading Kelly is the complete lack of BS.  Just like in the ”creation of a bodybuilder” article, in this post, Kelly explains how to get faster and jump higher.  It isn’t rocket science but that doesn’t mean it’s easy.
10. Visualisation - another article on the mental aspects of training, Kelly explains how to do visualisation properly and how it can benefit you playing your sport.

I hope you enjoy these articles as much as I have.  They are among the most user-friendly and genuinely useful articles I have come across on the internet about pure sports performance and muscular development.